How Deadpool Used a Marvel-Owned Character Without them Knowing

To say that the Deadpool movie is aware of its own environment would be a major understatement. With constant references to pop culture as well as nods to the wider Marvel and DC cinematic universes, Deadpool felt like it was just one wrong foot away from a Hollywood lawsuit.

While Deadpool may be best known for his involvement in the X-Men universe, readers of Marvel comics will know that the Merc's reach goes well beyond the properties that Fox owns the rights to. This meant that we were unfortunately unable to see Deadpool interacting with any characters from the wider Marvel Universe. Or at least that's what we thought. In a new interview, the movie's producers/writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick revealed that they managed to feature a Marvel-owned character, without ever getting the studio's permission.

Possible spoilers ahead! (Click to reveal)

During the movie's climactic fight scene, Deadpool takes a break from destroying henchmen to say hi to a combatant known as Bob. Bob and Deadpool go way back, which is why Deadpool stops to ask how his wife is. With no knowledge of the Marvel universe, this is a funny moment in itself, but fans of Deadpool will have appreciated this moment for another reason. Bob is actually a character from Marvel comics known as Bob, Agent of Hydra.

Deadpool and Bob, Agent of Hydra have had many adventures together, and are often considered something of a double act by Merc fans. In fact, such is this chap's popularity, you've probably seen a number of Bob, Agent of Hydra cosplays at your local comic con. But, because Bob's name has Hydra in it, he's technically a Marvel-owned property, so how did the Deadpool writers get him into the movie?

"That's why he's just called Bob," Wernick told Cinemablend. "The hardcore fans will go, 'Oh my God, is that Hydra Bob?' but the lawyers at Marvel won't go, 'Wait, that's Hydra Bob, they don't have the rights to it.' We did take some liberties. Fox has a list of characters that they own and that we can use, and Simon Kinberg, who is a producer on the project, is the keeper of the X universe. So he was a great source for us in knowing what we can use, how it's going to play into the larger story, and overall arching stories of the X universe. So between Simon and legal, they kind of guided us to what we can and can't do or have access to, and then it was up to us to see how we were going to use those characters creatively, once we knew we really did have the rights.

By removing Bob's backstory and merely using the name 'Bob', Deadpool skirted any potential legal issues with Marvel. As fun as this is, the best thing about it is that the people behind the movie went to such great lengths just to put in such a minor Easter Egg for their fans. Then again, this is hardly the only example of Deadpool poking fun at the MCU. You can see over 100 Easter Eggs and pop culture references from the movie, here